Napkin-dispensing device



J. D. INGRAM.

NAPKIN DISPENSING DEVICE.

I AT N ILED MA .31 1

Patented Feb. 2], 1922.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

IIIIIIIlIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII J. D. INGRAM.

NAPKIN DISPENSING DEVICE.

APPLICATIQN FILED MAR. 31. 1920.

1,407,156, Patented Feb. 21, 1922.

' 3 SHEETSSHEE f"2.

- 1'. D. INGRAM. NAPKIN DISPENSING DEVIC E. APPUCATiON FILED MAR. 31.I920.

Patented Feb. 21, 1922.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

UNITED STATES JOHN D. INGRAM, OF TEXARKANA, TEXAS.

NAPKIN-DISPENSING DEVICE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Feb. 21, 1922.

Application filed March 31, 1920. Serial No. 370,245.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN 'D. INGRAM, a citizen of the United States,residing at Texarkzana, in the county of Bowie and State of Texas, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Na kin-DispensingDevices, of which the ollowing is a specification.

The present invention relates to improvements in napkin holding devicesfor use generall in restaurants, cafeterias or elsewhere, fhr dispensingnapkins to patrons.

The primary objectof my invention is to provide a ortable stand orsupport upon which is adapted to be arranged a quantity of napkins ineasily access ble position for self seryice, which napkins are heldagainst accidental dis lacement, however,

by drafts or' electric ana 01" from disan" rangement due to carelessnessin the removal of one or more of napkins from the stack. v I A furtherobject is to provide a device desi ned to eliminate waste, or, morestrictly spea .iIig, i.to insure distribution or delivery of tlienapkinsone at a time only.

eFurthcrj-objects are to provide a construction capable of beingdisassembled for the purpose of arranging the parts in compact formforstorage or shipment, and to em body, means for holding advertising cardsin a. conspicuous and attractive manner so as to be presented to theview of the diners, said holding ,means performing the additionalfunction of a handle grip for 0on veniently carrying the device.

These and such other objects as may here-' inafter appear are attainedby the'novel construction, combination and arrangement of parts to behereinafter specifically described and claimed. Reference will now behad to the accompanying drawings formin a part of this specification,wherein:

igure 1 is a side elevation of a device constructed in accordance wlthmy inventron, showing the use of 'a pedestal or stand to support thenapkins in a some what elevated position.

Figure 2 is an end elevation, partly i section. to show more clearly theconstruction of the card holding element.

Figure 1 is a side elevation of a. device with the pedestal portionremoved and the na kins disposed in their lowered-position.

igure 4 is a top plan view of the napkin support. v

to disclose the peculiar folding thereof.

Figure 9 is an enlarged fragmentary sectronal View of a foot extremityfor the '.na%kin support, and

igure 10 is an enlarged fragmentary sectional view of the end of afollower bar,

"showing the manner of attaching the screw eyes therefor.

Throughout the following detail description and on the several figuresof the drawings, similar parts are referred to. by like referencecharacters.

Referring to the drawings, 1 desi ates a napkin support which may be 0any configuration or size, but preferably of that size which willaccommodate napkins in their folded position hereinafter more spe- Itshould be under cifically referred to. stood that the device hereindescribed is designed especially for the dispensing of paper napkins,but it is obviously within the purview of my invention that the napkinsmay be of cloth or may be arranged in un-" folded position, as foundmost convenient and desirable.

At each side the support 1 is provided with a substantially U-shapedupright 2 the guide or adjacent to the ends of which is formed anannular collar or flange 3 from which projects a threaded stem 4 adaptedto pass through apertures inthe corners of the plate 1 a suflicientextent to receive a clamping nut 5 having a hollow extension 5' forpurposeshereinafter stated. This construction and arrangement enablesthe uprights to be easily displaced from their position when ever it isdesired to. disassemble the parts of this device for .packing them intocontainers as hereinbefore premised. Mounted upon each of the U-shapedupri hts is drranged what I term a weighte follower bar 6 into the endsof which are secured the screw eyes 7, which if desired may be solderedin place as shown more particularly in Figure 10, the uprights 2extending through said screw eyes so that the bars may be moved upwardlyand downwardly thereupon.

Centrally beneath the support 1 is provided a threaded boss 8 which isadapted to receive the upper end of the pedestal stem or upright-'9, thelower end of which is also threaded and detachably secured in a base 10which is referably somewhat'heavy so that it will orm a substantialsupport for the device and prevent the same from being overthrown tooeasily.

Upon the support 1 the napkins 11 are adapted to be disposed insuperposed relation and preferably, as stated, in folded condition, saidnapkins being held against accidental displacement by the weightedfollowers 6 which rest upon the pile orstack at each side thereof. Iprefer to employ this form or arrangement whereby the napkins are heldat each side because it tends to hold the edges from being upturned ordisturbed by drafts or breezes which may be directed against saidnapkins and such arrangement may be used as thus described and willserve the purpose in .a way quite adequately. But one of the objects ofmy invention is to overcome the tendency to. remove more than one of thenapkins from the pile at a time when more than one are not desired. Forthis purpose I employ What I term for the purpose of this description atdelivery control element which is in the form of a thin plate 12, shownmost clearly in Figure 5 of the drawings, said plate bein cut outcentrally so as to provide a relative y large opening 13 adapted toexpose a considerable portion of the top na kin of the pile, that; iswithin its '1 borders.

provided with notches .14 engaging about the t opposite edges the plateis uprights 2 and the plate in use is designed to be disposed upon thepile of napkins 11 either below the weighted followers 6 or above thesame. I have shown the plate in the drawings, however, as arrangeddirectly upon-the top of the napkinsbeneaththe bars 6, which latter givesubstantial weight to the plate so that the same will hold the napkinsin compact condition, but will nevertheless permit the removal of saidnapkins one at a time without difficulty; If this position of the platebeneath the bars is inclined to render the removal of the napkins toodifficult or results in the mutilation of them on may be made relativelyheavier where this is found necessary to give the best results. Byproviding both the plate and the follower bars 6, the user may controlthe distribution of the napkins more readily in that he can arrange theparts so that more than one napkin 'may be displaced or a singledelivery only effected. I I

The napkins themselves in carrying out this invention are adapted to befolded either in what is known as the square fold,

opening. The uppermost napkin having" been removed the correspondingedge of the next napkin is exposed at the opening for removal. The sizeof the plate 12 is such that the edge portions thereof surround the edgeportions of the napkins and renders such edges more or less inaccesible,tending to prevent the user from displacing the napkins by means of theouter edges where the likelihood of removing more than one is usuallypresent. This forms an important feature of my invention and the factthat the parts are so arranged enables the proprietor to always see at aglance the condition of the supply, which is not usually the case wherethe supply is disposed within cabinets or containers.

v The napkin support may, as-hereinbefore described, be supported by thepedestal or stand which raises the pile of napkins fromthe table into asomewhat elevated and convenient position but the pedestal may bedispensed with without in any way detracting from the utility of thedevice, as. shown most clearly in Figure 3. When the ped estal is notused, I contemplate that suitable cushionmembers of rubber or'likematerial, designated 15, having central openings be slippedupon theextensions 5 of the clamping nuts 5. These nuts are preferably finishedwith the same finish as the balance of the parts, that is highlynickled, so thatwhen such cushion members 15 are not employed theyreally form a decorative feature of the device- Passing now to anotherimportant feature of the device, it will be observed from Figures 1 and2 that I contemplate disposing a relatively large tubular cylinder ordrum 16 upon the stem 9 of the pedestal. This element performs a dualfunction. lln devices of this character it is rather'unhandy to grasp asmall rod such as the upright 9 for carrying or moving the device fromplace to place. ith the enlarged diameter afforded by the drum 16 theconveying is much easier. This drum is provided centrally of its endswith bearings 17 so that it is revolubly mounted upon the rod 9 and thematerial of said drum is preferably sufliciently thin to enable the sameto be slit longitudinally and the slit portions pressed outwardlyslightly to form retaining straps 18. Cards 19 or the like are adaptedto be slipped beneath these retaining members and may bear advertisingmatter when desired. Since a series of the straps 18 are provided theydivide the inner surface of the drum into a plurality of sections sothat the advertising space circumferentially may be quartered, halved orin the whole depending upon how the card is slipped beneath all orcertain of said retainers only. Thus as the upper of the two cardsdesignated 19 is slipped beneath all of the retainers it is therebydivided into quarter section spaces 19 The lower card, however, as shownin F igure 7 passes over one of the vretainers so that at one side therewill be two quarter spaces corresponding to 19' and one half "sectionspace 19". While, awaiting the arrival of their meals the patrons willhave these cards presented to their view and the complete card oradvertising matter may be read by revolving this drum 16 upon itssupporting stem. I

It will be-observed from the foregoing that the apparatus may be cheaplymanufactured, will permitthe self-service of napkins or'the like as maybe desired and yet will possess ornamentality, which is highly to bedesired in articles of this character.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new is:

1. A napkin dispensing device of the class described comprising asupport upon which the napkins are arranged in superposed rela tion,retaining means adapted to restupon the napkins at spaced points toprevent acci dental displacementthereof, and guide means at each side ofthe support with which said retaining means engage to hold the latter-incooperative relation to said napkins, said guide means having feetextensions projecting below the support aforesaid and connecting theguide means to the support.

2. A napkin dispensing device of the class described comprising asupporting plate upon which the nalpkins are adapted to be disposed in astac upright vmembers arranged at each side of the plate between which"the napkins rest, thelower ends'of said uprightmembers projectingthrough the plate and constituting feet. I i

3. A napkin dispensing device of the class described comprising a whichthe napkins are isposed in a stack,

weighted follower adapted to above or below the plate, and retainingmeans with which the'plate andfollowerv are position upon the latesupport upon a pedestal or stand for said support removably connectedthereto, upright members carried by said support between which thenapkins are arranged, the ends of said members projecting through thesupport, and fastening means on said ends forming feet for the supportwhen the pedestal is rc-- stantially interfere with access to said edgesI while permitting the sides of-the stack to be viewed, said platepermitting the topmost napkin to be gripped "at a point within itsboundaries away from its edges whereby but one napkin will be removed,and guide posts at opposite sides of said support constituting means toprevent lateral displacement of the I napkins, said plate having meansinterlocking with the posts to permit sliding movement of the plate onthe latter. a

5. A napkin dispensing device comprising a support upon which thenapkins are adapted to be disposed ina stack, a deliverycontrol coveringplate separably arranged over thetop of the stack and having an openingexposing the topmost napkin for access at a point within its-edges, andfollower means disposable either upon the stack to provide a supportforthe plate or upon said plate to weight the same, whereby resistance todisplacement of a napkin is more or less controlled.' Y Y 6. A napkindispensing device of the class described comprising a support upon whichthe napkins are-adapted to be arranged in a stack, a platearranged overthe stack, said plate being cut away within its border to ex pose. theinner surface of the topmost napkin whereby the latter may be removedwithout disturbance of the under'napkins, andfollower members below saidplate at spaced points to hold said plate level and de- I creasefriction during the removal of napkin therethrough.

7, A napkin dispensing device of the class described comprising thesupport upon which the napkins are adapted to be arran ed, a plate"resting upon the napkins, sai .plate being cut away within its border toexpose the inner surfaceof the topmost napkin, whereby the latter ma beremoved without disturbance of the un er napkins, a be arranged engagedto hold them in n'apkins' '8. A napkin dispensing device comprising asupport, a' stand therefor compr sing a detachably connected to the basesupport,

means on said support for retaining the napkins against accidentaldisplacement, said means including removable uprights, and detachablemeans beneath the support connecting said uprights thereto, saidmeansconstitutin'g feet for the support when the stand is detached, theparts aforesaid being capable of disassembling for arrangement of theparts in compact position.

9. A napkin dispensing device comprising a base plate, a. substantiallyU-shaped upright arranged ateach side of said base plate and havingthreaded ends extending through said base plate, clampin nutsmountedupon said threaded ends, an cushion means detachably arrangedupon said clamping nuts so as to constitute cushioned feet for thesupport. 7 10. A grip piece for napkin holders,'comprising a tubularmember having sides slit to provide retaining straps for cards, saidstraps dividing the surface into varying sized sections according to theapplication of the cards in said retaining means.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature.

JOHN D, rnenan,

